Mr. Mom -- Part 2 Coming to a Computer soon near you

In mid-March, my dear wife Paula, will be headed back to Ethiopia on another BEMM aid trip. During that time, I will be (gasp!) performing the household Mom (along with the limited Dad) duties.

Now those of you who know me well, probably recognize this is not my strong suit. I'm not particularly good at selecting clothes, doing hair, or listening to large quantities of whining or tattling. And going shopping -- yikes. But I did do this once before. And everyone survived. More-or-less.

Now I will be attempting to reprise my starring role in Mr. Mom - Part 2. This time the trip is longer, and there's an additional kid in the mix (Thomas). But I've also been a lot closer to day-to-day kid care since my first starring role in this ongoing film series, so we will see if I've learned anything.

Right now, I'm in the planning phase...like in planning how I make the job as easy as possible. Two things that worked well last time were: cornrows and McDonalds. Beyond that, I'm just warming up, but am up for suggestions!

Book Signing Results

Four pleasant hours spent at Cheri O's last weekend resulted in 8 book sales and a few conversations with interested buyers. I hope a few of them went home and purchased on Amazon.

So was it worth while?

On balance, I would say yes, but not overwhelmingly so. I'm encouraged enough to consider doing another one -- perhaps this time somewhere in Omaha. And when INCENTIVIZE is "released" on Amazon, perhaps I could do another signing at Cheri O's.

Next time, however, I think avoiding sub-zero temperatures would be better.

Beer update, and other stuff

The beer was actually good (at least one bottle of it!). I half-expected to encounter a heavy, sickeningly sweet, flat and hazy fluid. Instead it was clear, properly carbonated, and nutty with only a slight hint of sweetness. Kind of reminded me of Newcastle brown ale, only a little nuttier. So I can call the first brew effort a success. I have a seasonal sage bear in the fermenter right now -- it can be bottled this weekend. And a mix for an IPA to make next. When I do so, I will be trying out some new equipment, a nylon bag to hold the grains/hops, and to make the beer clearer going into fermentation. I love to experiment and try new things.

On a more sober note, the house is currently filled with the smell of burning electrical insulation. When Paula went in to wake the twins this morning, the PTAC (compact heating and air conditioning unit -- like the ones you find in some motels) that heats their room was off. She started it, and it sparked a couple times, but began running. When I went in a few minutes later, it was sparking again, and smoke was billowing out of it.

Thank God this happened in the early morning, rather than late at night -- I could easily imagine the thing starting fire.

Now the smell is everywhere.

Of course, Thomas, whose bed is forty feet away, slept through the whole thing, and had no idea what I was talking about when I ordered him out of the room in the midst of all that smoke. Man, that kid sleeps deeply.

Now awaiting the arrival of the HVAC repair people. Undoubtedly this will be expensive, but at least no one was hurt and the house is still standing.

"I Like Beer...

...it makes me a jolly good fellow."

That song still makes me laugh. So does "Beer is Good" by Psychostick.

For Christmas, I received a home brewing kit. After a couple of weeks of waiting for additional equipment and ingredients to arrive (why do kits always seem to be lacking an item or two, like a strainer?), I brewed my first home-made beer. It is a nut brown ale -- yeah, I also had to get some chestnuts and roast them for this concoction. Finding chestnuts was harder than I expected, despite their reference in a famous Christmas song.

Anyway, the brewing took about four hours from start to finish. Then the beer ferments for two weeks. Then I had to bottle it, which was a bit trickier than I expected. After bottling, it has to sit for another two weeks while the newly added sugar (in the form of honey mixed with a little water) carbonates the brew in the bottles.

Now all the required time has nearly passed, and tomorrow I am ready to sample. Wondering if it will be delicious, or will be sipped once and immediately dumped down the sink...

A Book Signing

When I was a teenager, I used to greatly enjoy watching reruns of Monty Python's Flying Circus on PBS. I recall an often repeated line from that program "...and now for something completely different."

So I was wondering if a Tom Spears book signing qualifies as something "completely different"?

It sure feels that way.

If someone told me a couple of years ago, that I would be signing and selling copies of my first novel at a local cafe, I would have looked at them like they were crazy. And if that person had suggested I'd be excited about it, I would have known they were crazy. I was too deeply engrossed in the business of business at that time to even be interested.

And yet, here I am -- my first official book signing scheduled for "Cheri O's" in Ashland on Saturday from 10AM to 2PM. And I'm psyched about it.

Not that I'm expecting to be overrun with fans, but it certainly seems symbolic -- showing that, yes indeed, I really am an author.

Umm, I think your computer's dead...

As a bit of a break from my series of posts on work lessons, I must whine a bit about computers.

Today (and for the last week), I've been working on a Dell Inspiron Mini, one we bought a few years ago to keep in the kitchen. Much of it's life has been spent looking up recipes, or performing targeted web searches. An easy existence, as computer's lives go. This last week, I've discovered it is NOT a machine suitable for writing novels. The screen is quite small, the keyboard is very tight, and it uses our (sometimes working) WiFi connection for access to the web.

I pine away for a replacement....
....which I already purchased. From Best Buy on Monday. I stayed with a laptop, but added a huge screen, a CD drive, lots of memory and a full sized keyboard (and a lot of additional weight, but I'm usually only carrying the thing around the house). I'm excited to get to work on the new machine.

So why am I still using the mini?

Because I foolishly asked Best Buy to transfer my data to the new computer. It seemed like a great idea at the time -- spend a few dollars (eighty), and then I don't have to waste my hours doing it. That was five days ago. So why isn't it done? I don't know.

The guy who "checked in" my new computer estimated twenty four hours. So I'm dropping in today, and not leaving without the new computer -- even if I have to do the data transfer myself.

Which brings me to another question -- what is wrong with the old computer? Not the Mini, the one that booted me onto the Mini in the first place.

Admittedly, that Dell Laptop is six years old now, and was never purchased with writing novels in mind. It was my old work computer from two jobs ago, selected to be a reasonable compromise between performance and travel portability. Over time it's performance has gotten worse and worse until it was taking fifteen seconds between clicks and half an hour to restart. Sounds like a virus, right? That's what I thought, but repeated scans have come up blank. Not enough memory? Maybe....

Anyway, I also asked Best Buy to look at this machine as well. And guess what -- it's not done either! I'll be asking about that as well. Hopefully, they will have already diagnosed it, found something easily fixable, and I can keep it as a back-up. Hopefully.

But wait, there's one more insult to add to these injuries.

For the past ten years I've been doing my taxes on one of two computers that we refer to as "the dinosaurs". I do this because the taxes can tie up a computer for a time, and once the tax software is loaded, I can live with the relatively slow response times.

So I had a need to get a pdf copy of last year's return on Monday. I went upstairs to start dino #2 (where last year's taxes were done) and...nothing. Deader than a doornail. Wouldn't start ever after I checked the GFI button, traced the power cables, and made sure the surge protector was on.

I was afraid to even look at Dino #1 (which must be a good fifteen years old now).

So I'll be crossing my fingers a second time that the IRS doesn't send me a letter with "questions" about any old returns. They can only do that for what, seven years?

Sigh.

Distributors and Dealers

Here is a good work lesson. It's pretty specific, but definitely isn't obvious -- sometimes it's a good idea to have contractual agreements with your dealers or distributors, and other times it isn't. And where you do have contracts, it is important that they conform to local laws.

Within the United States, commercial contractual arrangements are regulated by state laws -- either the general commercial code for that state, or specific regulations that have been passed. In many states, it seems like the laws were set up to favor local car dealerships in their "struggles" with automotive manufacturers. They cover things like notice periods on cancellation, cure periods, and the buyback of inventory. Because these laws vary considerably from state to state, it is important to know what you can and can't do before you start to do anything that impacts territory, length of the agreement, renewals, inventory requirements, and similar things.

But what's a supplier to do? Learn the details of fifty different laws -- laws that can change, by the way? Can't you write a contract with your dealer/distributor that is universally valid in the U.S.?

If you try going that route, it's likely the agreement will be so weak, that you'll be completely hamstrung. One advantage of a universal agreement, however, is it does set expectations for you and your distribution partners. And you only have one agreement to learn. If you make the contract too restrictive, however, it is likely some paragraphs won't stand up if there's a dispute that ends up in court. That's probably about as good as you can do.

If there's no contract, then general commercial law in the state prevails -- which is probably even more disadvantageous to a supplier.

So what's the best strategy?

In the United States, I suggest having a very knowledgeable attorney write a universal contract -- one restrictive enough to give you some options when your distributor doesn't perform -- but also checking state laws before you make an major changes in the relationship.

Outside of the United States it is a different ball game altogether. Laws in the U.S. vary a lot. Internationally, they vary even more.

In one instance, I was sued by an international dealer for hundreds of thousands of dollars for "brand development" he had supposedly done on my behalf. Of course, we were cancelling him for non-performance, but the way this particular country's laws worked, since we had a contractual commercial relationship, he could come after us. And he did. And it cost big bucks.

I later learned that if we hadn't reduced the relationship to a contract, we would have only been subject to normal commercial law, and the "brand development" stuff would have been excluded.

Outside of the U.S., you will, unfortunately need to ask a local attorney what is the best policy. It is a slow, tedious and expensive process, but done correctly, it can save you bundles later. Absolutely don't just take your U.S. agreement and have your distributor sign it -- you could be setting yourself up for some huge problems down the line.